silently leaving the room

i went to a vocal recital today. when i was told it was a recital, i was expecting it to be in like, an auditorium and stuff. nope.

i walked into a small classroom where we crammed about 40 people in. the class went up to sing one by one accompanied by nothing but a piano track piped out of a mini-stereo system. it was an absolute treat.

you could just tell they were nervous, and it made it all the more endearing to me. it takes so much courage to just go up and sing in front of a group of family and friends, especially when you've spent so much time preparing for it. karaoke is one thing, because it's spontaneous and whatever -- but with a recital there are expectations you heap on yourself. i would never have the courage to do what those students did, it was awesome.

i find a lot of times we're just scared people won't like us for who we are if we show too much of ourselves. or perhaps we don't actually like who we are, and we hide it from others.

i suppose learning to be proud of our gifts (and who we are because of them) is part of this whole growing up business.

am i officially too old to say i'm still growing up? maybe i should just say i'm growing.

fatter.

for the record, my friend knocked 'em dead. she has an absolutely gorgeous voice. up to that point, all i had heard of it was a stream of girlish chatting and the occasional giddy cat noise.

crazy kids. they certainly do make a guy proud.